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Don’t know why everyone wants a tablet to be a Mac so much. Steve Jobs said himself during the iPads introduction that the iPad is a “third category device between a laptop and a smartphone”.


Just buy a Mac if you want a Mac, otherwise you’ll never be satisfied because you’ll just want them to add something else to make it like a Mac, then another thing, then another… etc. You are forever chasing after something to be something that it was never intended to be.
Look at the phone, it was intended for just making phone calls right. Look at how it's used today. Thing evolve and get better. To say the iPad with the current chip is not powerful enough to run like a real computer is not accurate.
 
I just snapped up a 12.9 Pro after debating between that and the MacBook Air. I wanted something to throw in my bag and take with me and am able to work on either machine. It helps that I have a 365 subscription. The reason I went with the iPad Pro is because of the hardware. Better display, better speakers, better accessories, touch screen support, Apple Pencil support - a more versatile form factor...plus the excellent and equivalent M1 chips under the hood. I really hope to see something great at Dub Dub. Let's go!
 
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How would it be a terrible idea?

Apple can offer it as an optional, at least. Imagine, When you can just take your iPad and perform all the tasks as you would on a Mac (especially if you are traveling) You don't really have to carry your Macbook around. It all comes down to the functionality, making it seamless, the eco-system.
In my opinion the option to extend the display would be the greatest thing to happen to iPad in awhile.
 
How would it be a terrible idea?

Apple can offer it as an optional, at least. Imagine, When you can just take your iPad and perform all the tasks as you would on a Mac (especially if you are traveling) You don't really have to carry your Macbook around. It all comes down to the functionality, making it seamless, the eco-system.
You are asking for a crippled device that would be useless without a keyboard and mouse. It makes no sense if you think it through.
 
Rather than patches and tweaks to iPad OS to accommodate these features piece-meal, I'd prefer Samsung's DeX approach... Act like a tablet but then if I want a desktop-like experience, tap a shortcut and the device turns into a desktop user experience. Same apps, just a different way of interacting with the device.

iPad OS still has a few messy holdovers that haven't been addressed. Having to go to two separate places to change settings for an app should've been dealt with ages ago. Revamping the Settings app itself would be very helpful. Why has "Accessibility" been the catch-all bin for the flotsam and jetsam of settings that don't fit anywhere else?
 
Well said. However, I'm hoping that this marks the beginning of a concerted effort to add more productivity features to iPadOS. Things like file management and better external monitor support (as many others have said like @DJC631 ). The iPad could be a laptop replacement and viable for many people but it's just not quite there. Additionally Apple must get more productivity apps ported to iPadOS.
Its not just the apps needed, its commitment to better UI design.
Consider Pages, on the Mac I have a nice right side format and document bar, a nice toolbar with lots of custom buttons to insert different items, on the iPad I have only popover menus, why? Why can't we have a nice format bar on the right? Why can't we have a nice toolbar full of features?

My suggestions:
A universal menu bar should come to iPadOS to improve discoverability of advanced features.
Better enabled/disabled button state, and more pronounced differences between active and inactive app window in split view.
Proper external monitor support to allow apps to fully utilize external screen real-estate (not floating windows, but external monitors above a certain size should allow triple pane split view).
Resizable slide-over options (maybe 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 widths) to take up more space to grant regular width apps rather than compact only.

To fix what people are actually complaining about when they complain about workflows:
Allow more apps to talk to each other: why can't my reference/citation manager properly interact with Pages or Word on iPad OS?
Allow command line utilities and the file system access this requires
Proper support for long running background tasks
Swap files to allow applications that need large amounts of memory to actually handle larger projects (maybe limit swap space to double the ram size or maybe up to 32 GB ??)
 
This should have been done a long time ago. The best moment when M1 was introduced in the iPad family.
M1 is the normal iPad chip. It's the same thing that Apple does to the iPhone chip (double the cores) and then puts it in the iPad.

The trick was putting it in the Mac first, and then acting like they put a Mac chip in an iPad. Apple put the iPad chip in the Mac. It's great marketing that people think otherwise.
 
Rather than patches and tweaks to iPad OS to accommodate these features piece-meal, I'd prefer Samsung's DeX approach... Act like a tablet but then if I want a desktop-like experience, tap a shortcut and the device turns into a desktop user experience. Same apps, just a different way of interacting with the device.

iPad OS still has a few messy holdovers that haven't been addressed. Having to go to two separate places to change settings for an app should've been dealt with ages ago. Revamping the Settings app itself would be very helpful. Why has "Accessibility" been the catch-all bin for the flotsam and jetsam of settings that don't fit anywhere else?
I really hope they don't have two modes for when plugged into a keyboard and display, I want a better iPadOS experience not a macOS experience.

I think the settings revamp is a good idea, as I mention above, a universal menu with a menu item that gives all apps a dedicated settings window would be awesome.
Accessibility really is messy and needs a big rework.
 
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Its not just the apps needed, its commitment to better UI design.
Consider Pages, on the Mac I have a nice right side format and document bar, a nice toolbar with lots of custom buttons to insert different items, on the iPad I have only popover menus, why? Why can't we have a nice format bar on the right? Why can't we have a nice toolbar full of features?

My suggestions:
A universal menu bar should come to iPadOS to improve discoverability of advanced features.
Better enabled/disabled button state, and more pronounced differences between active and inactive app window in split view.
Proper external monitor support to allow apps to fully utilize external screen real-estate (not floating windows, but external monitors above a certain size should allow triple pane split view).
Resizable slide-over options (maybe 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 widths) to take up more space to grant regular width apps rather than compact only.

To fix what people are actually complaining about when they complain about workflows:
Allow more apps to talk to each other: why can't my reference/citation manager properly interact with Pages or Word on iPad OS?
Allow command line utilities and the file system access this requires
Proper support for long running background tasks
Swap files to allow applications that need large amounts of memory to actually handle larger projects (maybe limit swap space to double the ram size or maybe up to 32 GB ??)
Ah yeah, the background task support is a big area of opportunity. Such as being able to download a file in Safari while working in another app.
 
I really hope they don't have two modes for when plugged into a keyboard and display, I want a better iPadOS experience not a macOS experience.

I think the settings revamp is a good idea, as I mention above, a universal menu with a menu item that gives all apps a dedicated settings window would be awesome.
Accessibility really is messy and needs a big rework.
I agree regarding automatically switching between modes. 2-in-1 ChromeOS devices do that and it drives me nuts. Especially when using a tablet with a detachable keyboard... if the connection is loose, then the screen switches to tablet mode without any way to override it.
 
Apple is really getting dragged kicking and screaming by its own community on this. For a company that used to lead the way on human-computer interaction it’s pretty jarring.
I would say their community is very very happy with the iPad. Despite the slight sales decrease (it happened with the iPhone too), it sells way better than any other tablet in the market. That doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement, but customer satisfaction is phenomenal.
 
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Imagine the iPad Pro in ‘Mac..ish’ mode when docked in a magic keyboard then switches to traditional/new tablet mode when undocked…..

There’s so much potential now it has the M1 chip, especially with 16GB and 1TB.
 
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How would it be a terrible idea?

Apple can offer it as an optional, at least. Imagine, When you can just take your iPad and perform all the tasks as you would on a Mac (especially if you are traveling) You don't really have to carry your Macbook around. It all comes down to the functionality, making it seamless, the eco-system.
The problem is that the touch experience would be terrible for most Mac apps, because they aren’t designed for touch, and while using those apps would be optional, Apple won’t allow creating such an ecosystem where a large number of existing apps aren’t suited to the primary UI.

Look at the UI disaster that Windows has become because Microsoft tried to dual-purpose it to touch UI since Windows 8. Most Windows apps aren’t suited to touch input although it has been almost a decade now, and they never will be. Apple doesn’t want such a future.
 
I think something like the Samsung Dex mode would be best. Don't cripple the tablet experience, but open up the hardware for more functionality. If there were a MAC OS mode though and it was always ready to go, you'd be wanting rather more RAM than they currently come with.
 
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Imagine the iPad Pro in ‘Mac..ish’ mode when docked in a magic keyboard then switches to traditional/new tablet mode when undocked…..

There’s so much potential now it has the M1 chip, especially with 16GB and 1TB.
It already works pretty well when docked, what we need is the ability to have an external display that works properly when connected. Its not about making windowing Mac-ish but instead enabling us to fully use a larger(non-touch) display with keyboard and mouse connected. Allow us to drag windows over but still use the same multitasking paradigm from iPadOS as it exists today. I don't think people have really investigated the iPad OS multitasking recently, it has lots of cool tricks for replacing windows in place, dragging windows around, and finding windows using the app window shelf. There is lots of good stuff in there,

I think it all needs more discoverability, apple's insistence on a single swipe area at the bottom for 3 actions (home, multitasking, dock) makes things harder to find and use. I doubt most people know you can long press on an app icon to see all windows from the dock to see windows from another app and then drag one into your current split view to replace an app, its a really handy feature that is hard to find.
 
You DO NOT want macOS on the iPad. If you've used a Surface Pro you know all those tiny Windows icons do not a good touch experience make. No. I want a tablet optimized OS. What no one has done: not Google, not Apple, not anyone is make a tablet specific OS. iOS worked well when the iPad came around. If iPadOS 16 is a truly tablet-designed OS, it could be a massive boon to the segment.
 
The problem is that the touch experience would be terrible for most Mac apps, because they aren’t designed for touch, and while using those apps would be optional, Apple won’t allow creating such an ecosystem where a large number of existing apps aren’t suited to the primary UI.

Look at the UI disaster that Windows has become because Microsoft tried to dual-purpose it to touch UI since Windows 8. Most Windows apps aren’t suited to touch input although it has been almost a decade now, and they never will be. Apple doesn’t want such a future.
I can log into my router's management web page with my iPad, but nothing works since it's expecting mouse hover states before a click. Desktop apps do not work with touch.

People asking for macOS on the iPad want a keyboard and trackpad device, which already exists.

The majority of people who are happy with the simplicity of iPadOS don't come here to complain or ask for a system that only works sometimes.
 


Apple wants to make the iPad behave more like a laptop than a smartphone and plans to implement changes in iPadOS 16 to further that goal, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

iPad-Pro-Big-Ol-Logo.jpg

iPadOS 16 will feature a redesigned multitasking interface that makes it easier to swap between tasks and see which apps are open, plus it will allow users to resize windows. Apple plans to implement new ways for users to deal with multiple apps at once, in what sounds like a much more Mac-like multitasking experience.

The revamped iPad experience will be one of the biggest upgrades announced at WWDC, according to Gurman.

Apple's iPad Pro models are as powerful as its Macs as they use the same M1 chip, but the software experience has always lagged behind and prevented the tablet from being used in the same way as a laptop or desktop machine.

The new iPadOS 16 experience will premiere on Monday, June 6, with Apple previewing the software for developers. Developers will get beta access that same day, and Apple will refine the iPadOS 16 software over the course of several months before launching it in the fall alongside iOS 16.

Article Link: Apple Aiming to Make iPad More Mac-Like With iPadOS 16 Multitasking Changes
I wonder if these changes will be available for the iPad Mini
 
I can log into my router's management web page with my iPad, but nothing works since it's expecting mouse hover states before a click. Desktop apps do not work with touch.

People asking for macOS on the iPad want a keyboard and trackpad device, which already exists.

The majority of people who are happy with the simplicity of iPadOS don't come here to complain or ask for a system that only works sometimes.
iPadOS isn't even simple anymore, I love the current multitasking UI, once I figured out its ins and outs I realized how amazing it is and I only use my Mac when I hit other limitations in iPadOS (background processing and inter-app communication being the big ones).
 
iPadOS isn't even simple anymore, I love the current multitasking UI, once I figured out its ins and outs I realized how amazing it is and I only use my Mac when I hit other limitations in iPadOS (background processing and inter-app communication being the big ones).
You're right, but they have done a good job of keeping it simple while making the multitasking more "discoverable."

If the rumors are true, I hope they can manage to maintain that trend.
 
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I don't understand how "multi-windowing" is supposed to make the iPad a "productivity" system or more Mac like... to me it's not about how many windows are open instead it's about how software on the iPad literally does not have the same functionality as their Mac counterparts. It's not about having every button but having 1:1 functionality parity.

For instance,
  • there's no Smart Folders (essentially just a saved search) in Mail, Files, iPhoto, Music and so on.
  • Many functions for file management just don't exist in the files app.
  • No Terminal. Sure sandbox the snot out of it so we can't see the system file structure but still let us run ping, netstat, install utilities like rclone and so on.
  • We didn't get the functionality to change the date on photos in the photos app while the rest of the metadata is out of reach.
  • In Music on Mac I can add my own songs and edit their metadata. on iOS I can only add songs from the general library.
  • How the USB port on the iPad is limited to specific functions. For instance connecting a printer or scanner over USB does nothing.
 
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